Israeli war against Gaza live: 7 dead in attack on “security zone” | News on the Israel-Palestine conflict

Patrick Bigger, a US climate policy researcher, said it would take decades for Gaza’s environment to recover from the destruction Israel suffered during its war on the territory.

“The social and environmental crisis in Gaza did not begin on October 7. It has already worsened significantly over the past 15 years. But the unprecedented bombardment of Gaza by (Israeli forces) has created some really serious environmental problems that will take decades to solve,” Bigger said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

“The water situation is particularly bad,” said Bigger, pointing out that the Eastern Mediterranean region has already been identified as a “hotspot of climate change, which is already having serious impacts on both the quality and availability of water.”

The Gaza Strip’s water supply has now been further compromised “due to the immediate impact of the bombing,” and the environment has been damaged by the “emergency measures that Gaza residents had to take in order to have access to the amount of water currently available.”

“The pollution of Gaza’s coastline by raw sewage – these are really serious impacts that are difficult, if not impossible, to remedy,” he said.